Lending platform October announced its acquisition of Credit.fr, a subsidiary of Tikehau Capital.
The move accelerates the development of October, securing its position as one of the leading platforms in the whole of continental Europe.
Since founded in 2014, October has gone from strength to strength. Focused primarily on lending to SMEs, the company offers a link between lenders and small to medium-sized businesses.
Recently expanding their offering, they have developed October Connect, a tool aimed at leading financial institutions, to help develop transparency in their portfolio and enrich their risk analysis.
October has financed thousands of VSEs and SMEs to the value of €860m in France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, and Germany.
The lending activity of the company is driven by growth of 71% in 2021, financed by more than 40,000 active individuals and significant European institutions, including Allianz, Generali, and the European Investment Fund.
“Our objective is to offer the best financing solutions to SMEs to support their development,” said Patrick de Nonneville, CEO of October. “At the same time, we offer our investors, both institutional and private, the opportunity to support the growth of these companies.”
“The expertise of the Credit.fr teams in this area is recognized; we have followed their work with great interest. We are therefore delighted to see our teams merge and strengthen each other.”
Further supporting SMEs
Credit.fr has been a subsidiary of Tikehau Capital since 2017. After starting operations in 2015, it has become France’s second-largest lending platform for SMEs, with a processed volume of 115 million EUR to date. Currently, it has completed more than 900 financings.
“In five years, Credit.fr has become the second-largest lending platform for French SMEs,” said Henri Marcoux, Deputy Managing Director of Tikehau Capital.
The acquisition of Credit.fr by October will create an entity representing a total of EUR 860 million lent to 3,100 European companies in France, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, and Germany.
“With its European scope, October is now a leading platform in its market and is a partner of choice to continue the development of Credit.fr,” continued Marcoux. “We fully share the strategic vision of its management team and are pleased to support the development of the new entity.”
The acquisition of Credit.fr will enrich October’s processes, further supporting the company in assisting with the needs of European SMEs.
Expansion into SaaS
The acquisition of Credit.fr further supports the growth of October as it expands into the Software as a Service (SaaS) space. Since launching at the end of 2020, October Connect, with its SaaS technology, has assisted large institutions such as Bpifrance and is set to push the company’s growth further in the future.
SaaS is an industry that has seen significant global investment in the past few years. Heralded for its flexibility and customizable nature, it allows businesses to cut costs by engaging the services of a third party, experts in the field, to run optimization software to enrich company offerings. October Connect focuses on providing software that improves security and transparency for its users.
Now representing 15% of the October’s turnover, the technology allows banks and asset managers to optimize their decision-making through the use of data. Entities can use the service to improve their risk analysis and detect fraud.
“October Connect will be the focus of most of our investment over the next 24 months. We are strengthening our tech, data, and product teams while building a European sales force,” said Olivier Goy, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of October.
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